Do You Know What Really Motivates Your Staff?

The happier we keep our staff, the harder they will work for us. FACT

The happier we keep our staff, the harder they will work for us. FACTThe above study proves it unequivocally.

Statistical evidence now supports the companies, like Google, that have made employee satisfaction a company priority and have seen productivity jump by up to 37% as a result.

Would you like a 37% increase in productivity?

Of course you would.

But the real question we need to ask ourselves is…

How do we make our staff happy?

What will motivate our team to do the 12% more work, mentioned in the study, every day?

Is there more to motivating people than just offering a “performance bonus”?

There is…

According to the latest research into motivation, there are two types of reward

Intrinsic Motivation:

This is the internal feel good factor we get when we think we are doing something worthwhile or we are commended by people we respect for the work we have done.

This type of reward is related to psychological gratification such as, a sense of challenge, receiving praise and gratitude from Managers, Job satisfaction etc.

Intrinsic motivation is what drives us over the long term. For instance a nurse may be motivated for her work because she gets a sense of gratification out of helping people recover physically and returning to family or work life.

Daniel Pink makes a great case for Intrinsic motivation in this video

There are 4 things that drive us from the inside out:

Sense of meaningfulness. Being part of a project that will have real value, which matters in the larger scheme of things. You can feel that your time is well invested and will pay off in terms of social impact.

Sense of choice. Choosing how to accomplish your work goals is massively motivating. Having ownership of our own work and the approach we take greatly increases our sense of responsibility for its success.

Sense of competence. Knowing that we are doing a good job helps build a feeling of increasing mastery which creates engagement and commitment to ongoing improvement.

Sense of progress. Seeing clear measures of our progress increases confidence in our skills and gives us a feeling of satisfaction in our ability to learn and grow.Intrinsic motivation can be a huge influencer on our sense of self-direction and the self-regulation of our own behaviour. This can provide a very cost-effective producer of motivation as people with strong intrinsic motivation will usually give their efforts willingly.

Considerations:

How are you helping your staff to see the impact of their daily work on your team, your business and your community?

How do you celebrate increasing competence and emerging mastery?

What system do you have in place to measure and congratulate progress?

Extrinsic Motivation:

These are rewards that originate outside us and act as a type of positive reinforcement for our performance in acquiring agreed goals or targets.

This type of tangible reward includes money, fame, grades and praise. The impact of extrinsic reward tends to be short-lived and can sometimes lead to unexpected negative consequences.

One of the reasons given for the cause of the 2008 financial crash was that the incentives for bankers were so massive and poorly aligned that they led to a culture of reckless risk taking.

That’s not to say that extrinsic reward doesn’t have a role to play in keeping our team happy. We don’t have to be paying the mega bucks of bankers, you could offer:

Pizza for the whole team, or as a reward for good performance

An away day social gathering

Effusive public praise

An improved job title

Awards

Discount card for a restaurant or shop

A sincere thank you…

The secret to this kind of reward is, that it is seen by others.

Being seen to be succeeding is almost as important as succeeding itself and sometimes the tiniest of visible accolades can have a massive impact.

Sometimes motivation can be as simple a concept as nourishing your team at every level.

67% of employees with access to free food at work are

“extremely” or “very” happy at their current job - USA Today

The key is to balance the two to create Total Reward

Clever employers create a Total reward package which aims to bring in a variety of aspects that employees will value in their job role, and these are developed and implemented as a meaningful whole.

By bringing together intrinsic and extrinsic reward you can gain the benefits of both methods

Benefits of a Total Reward Package

Much bigger impact

Helps to enhance the employment relationship

Flexibility to meet the individual’s needs

Attracts the best talent for Companies that carry it out

The total reward package is more economically sustainable and creates a climate within a business where excellent work is both rewarded and meaningful.

The world is changing and some long established work practices are now holding businesses back.

By aligning all of the staff with your companies and your customers values you will find it easier to generate high performance.